Queen's University is participating in a new Ontario University Athletics (OUA) program that provides targeted financial support to Black and Indigenous student athletes.
 
The OUA's Black and Indigenous Heritage Student-Athlete Bursary is a two-year pilot project that allows for up to $50,000 to be awarded by member institutions, that include Queen's, up to $2,000 per athlete. The new bursary can be awarded in addition to any athletic financial award provided by the university for qualified student-athletes. Total potential funding across the OUA could reach up to $1 million annually.
 
"Queen's is excited to participate in this new opportunity for targeted financial aid for Black and Indigenous student-athletes," said Leslie Dal Cin, Executive Director, Athletics and Recreation. "While there is more work to do to address systemic issues in sport and to support our QTBIPOC student-athletes, this is an important step. Thank you to the OUA's Black, Biracial, Indigenous (BBI) Task Force, and all others involved in bringing this fantastic initiative forward."
 
For 2021-22, Queen's student-athletes are invited to apply through the Queen's General Bursary which is now open in SOLUS to students until Oct. 31.
 
The OUA bursary builds on Queen's ongoing commitment to increasing access among underserved and underrepresented students, including QTBIPOC student-athletes.
 
For example, this year, through the new Commitment Bursary program, Queen's awarded a total of $935,000 to 365 members of the Class of 2025, including student-athletes who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQ+ individuals. This support will continue in each of their four years of study.
 
In 2020-21, Queen's distributed a total of $6.9M to 1,442 Black Canadian, Racialized, or Indigenous students.

"We look forward to using this OUA initiative to help recruit and support more QTBIPOC student-athletes at Queen's who will join our community starting in Fall 2022 and beyond," said Dal Cin.

"We are so excited that Queen's can make available this invaluable financial support to student-athletes through our general bursary programs right away, while the specific details and OUA processes for the program will be developed in the coming months."
 
The new bursary aligns with the goals of the ongoing work of the Athletics and Recreation Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Task Force.